Received a warning about a virus and a green progress bar started a download
Hello. I was on a website the other day and all of a sudden there was a warning that came down from the top of the browser. It was a grey warning box. Said something like your computer has a virus or is infected, etc. and will be checked for the virus. I could click on "ok" or "cancel". I clicked cancel but there was a green progress bar that started to show that a download was taking place. I forced quit right away but when I opened firefox it gave me the webpage again with the warning. I hit cancel again and the same thing started to happen (showed a download in progress with a green progress bar on left side of screen). I immediately closed all the firefox windows I had open. When I clicked on firefox again everything was fine. The new window went to the apple website page and everything seems to be working fine. I use a mac. Has anyone else gotten this warning before? And should I be worried that my computer was infected by a virus? I don't have an anti virus installed on my computer. With mac I always just keep the security updates up to date and I'm usually fine. I just want to make sure my computer didn't just get a virus. Thanks for the help!
All Replies (5)
It sounds you got to a site that presented a rogue virus warning and was trying to get you to install some malicious software. Those sites are normally aimed at Windows users and will be trying to download a Windows executable file. I am not aware of any that target the Mac. I think it is unlikely that your computer is infected, but if you want to be sure there are some free antivirus programs for the Mac available.
Thank you so much for your post. I really appreciate your answer!
Are you able to suggest any sites that are safe to download free antivirus programs for Mac? I have heard that sometimes those programs, like Norton for Mac, can significantly slow down the computer and cause other issues. Is this true? If so, is it recommended to install a program like Norton, test for viruses, and then uninstall?
Thanks again for your help!
I don't use a Mac so can not recommend a particular product. Somebody may reply here, or you can ask in one of the Mac forums such as http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ about antivirus programs.
Ok great. I'll check out the Mac forum. And wait and see if anyone else replies here.
Thanks again for your help!